Dem: Seasoned With The Touch of Time - Turkish
Relying on time and the power of patience
This week I am a writer and thinker guest in my own language, Turkish, the language I know better than any other thing. On the other hand, I am floating in the waters of a subject that I am afraid of failing to express as well as it deserves.
Dem, one of the deepest expressions of the Turkish language, is today’s word.
Dem is used in many senses in Turkish, but its main meaning is time. But we are not talking about hours; we are talking about time, in its abstract sense, without being limited by numbers, with its own existence, with its weight and effect.
Dem represents patience, surrendering oneself to time with a full trust, and producing a unique essence of maturity.
Time, in my opinion, is more real than anything else in the universe we live in. Far from matter, it has positioned itself in an invisible universe and governs life. Since we cannot see it, we cannot intervene, stop it, or direct it. It flows as it wants, in its own way, without listening to us. And I am glad it does. I leave it to our imagination what we, human beings, could do if we could manage time, a real chaos and fatal destruction.
Of course, relying on time is a solid form of patience. Being able to keep still, holding ourselves from taking actions, being slow in a rushing world, closing our ears to any thought, nudge, or feeling, standing against productivity tales, and so on. Patience means a lot, and many of those things need a solid power built with the bricks of a mind that is calm and wise, a heart that is embracing and empathizing, and a soul in full connection with the creator of our universe.
Patience and its friends, wisdom, empathy, and tolerance, may be the things we desperately need the most; may we all find them soon.
Notes & Reads:
When I think about patience and the maturity that comes with time, Rumi and Sufism are the first ones that come to mind. Their perspective on life and patience is always teaching us new things.
Budhism also has a similar viewpoint about patience and maturity. So this week’s books will come from them.
Essential Sufism by Robert Frager and James Fadiman gives clues to Sufism for those who want to learn a bit of this deep philosophy.
Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life by Thich Nhat Hanh, who is one of the world's best-known and most esteemed Buddhist monks and leaders,
This week, I wanted to keep it short. When the work wants to be brief, one shouldn’t avoid it, I believe.
Wish you a great Sunday and week ahead.
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Thank you for taking the time to accompany me in the story of a new word. Every word of the world’s languages is also ours, belonging to humanity while giving us an essence of the culture in which it was rooted.
We are made of stories—that is, of words.